** American International Group's shares up 1.8% premarket to $76.98 after JP Morgan upgrades to 'overweight' from 'neutral'
** Bullish stance reflects expected outsized EPS growth over next few years, AIG’s lower exposure to risks facing commercial insurers, high capital flexibility and attractive valuation, JP Morgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar writes in note
** AIG to generate 20%+ EPS growth over next three years, well above his high-single-digit growth projection for commercial lines peers and mid-single-digit estimate for reinsurers, Bhullar says
** Sell-down of Corebridge Financial stake should provide AIG significant capital flexibility for share repurchases, he says
** Still, Bhullar trims PT by $4 to $89 to reflect lower EPS estimates
** He also cautions co's ROE will continue to lag peers' for "the foreseeable future", and points to its "poor earnings quality" as a concern
** Now 14 of 20 analysts rate AIG "strong buy" or "buy", rest have "hold" and median PT is $86, per LSEG data
** Through Weds close, shares up ~12% YTD vs S&P 500 Insurance index's ~29% advance
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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